by Andy Hyland
“You didn’t see anything?”
“No. And we weren’t gone that long. Malachi - some of those guys in there - they may have been injured but they were decent mages. They weren’t helpless. Whatever did this…”
“Was something else,” I said.
“And damn quick,” said Zack. “They died in the cots. Not one of them managed to get up and start a fight.”
“Any ideas?” said Cadence.
I was suddenly uncomfortably aware that everybody was suddenly looking at me.
“No, nothing immediately springs to mind,” I said, drawing skeptical looks from Zack, Arabella and Julie. They could look at me however they wanted, as long as they kept their damn mouths shut. We’d sorted out the Mage-born problem, and now all I wanted was to get everyone else out of the line of fire. What was left was down to me and the Host. And, of course, whatever had just done this. That was an unexpected complication. “But this place has run its course. Liberty, tell your guys to go to ground. Somewhere unexpected, somewhere even you don’t know about. Complete shutdown, twenty-four hours at least. Give me time to work this.”
“We could -” he began, and then stopped, realizing that there was nothing he could offer.
“Look after your people,” I repeated. “You’ve done more than enough. Above and beyond. And you’ve paid for it. So thanks, but it’s time to get you and yours clear.”
He looked hard at me, but nodded and turned to Eric. “Come on son, let’s get you somewhere quiet and dark.” Taking his elbow, he led the still-muttering man over towards their car.
“What about us?” Zack asked in a low voice. “As far as places to hide out are concerned, this was it. Everywhere else we’ve got is public knowledge. Julie’s place, Arabella’s, even my workshops, storage areas…we’ve got nothing left.”
“You’re right,” I said, already on my phone. “So we go mobile.”
The cab rolled up five minutes later. Liberty closed the door on us, slapped the roof, and we were off and running.
One thing you could say about Rick - the guy was hard to faze. He didn’t mind the pick-up, or getting told that for the foreseeable future the back of his cab was going to be our office, dining room and sleeping quarters, all rolled into one. In fact, there was only one aspect of the whole thing that Rick was even slightly nervous about.
“So,” he said slowly as we rounded a corner and headed north for the fourth time, “now don’t get me wrong. I like you guys, and apart from rest stops we can keep moving as long as you like. But, and I mean no disrespect, are you good for this?”
“Good for this?” asked Julie, not following his train of thought. Bless her, she just hadn’t grown up with the same problems as everyone else in the car.
“Good for it,” Rick said, holding up his right hand and rubbing his fingers and thumb together. “I can give you a slight discount, I suppose, for the constant work, but the meter’s running and I aim to keep it ticking.”
“Oh,” said Julie. “Yeah, we’re good for it. Well I am. Bill me.”
“Yeah, I’m afraid it’s going to be cash only, and I’m thinking regular top-ups if it’s all the same to you.”
“Welcome to the street economy,” said Arabella, trying to hide a smirk.
“No problem,” said Julie. “Stop over here.”
“Safe to use an ATM?” asked Zack.
“We’ll be gone in under a minute,” I said. “And besides, I get the feeling that whatever knifed its way through the Aware, it’s not into banking technology.”
We were in agreement on that, and Rick was soon the proud owner of an additional five hundred dollars. He started whistling shortly after that.
“How long can you keep that up?” asked Arabella. “Isn’t there a daily limit on how much you can draw out?”
“Not on my card there isn’t,” said Julie, and this time it was her turn to smirk.
“Down to business,” said Zack. “Malachi, you’ve had your thinking time. Now you tell us exactly what happened when you met Eliajel at Benny’s. And I mean exactly. The time for being mysterious has long since passed.”
“No argument there.” And so I told them the whole story, from when I walked into the back room, up until when Benny shoved me back Earthside, where we cowered while the Host appeared outside. On the first run-through they were all silent, taking it in, mulling it over. Then they made me repeat it, right from the start. Once that was done, I started over yet again, and this time the questions came thick and fast. Julie was particularly keen on knowing to the word exactly what Eliajel had said. Zack got fixated on the symbol - the circle with the diagonal line - that he’d asked me about.
Arabella wanted to know the exact moment that Benny and Caleb had burst in. “Caleb likes his knives,” she said. “I’m not sure I can trust anyone who likes knives that much.”
“I’m pretty sure we’ve all done some damage with knives,” I said, hoping that she’d take the point before I had to launch into her past history with knife violence. Which could take some time and get her all wound up.
“Yeah, I suppose,” she conceded. “But he had so many.”
I was grateful when Zack spoke and we could move away from that particular theory.
“So it’s Eliajel,” he said. “The demon who actually confessed to stabbing Kushiel in the heart with a dagger. I know I’m not a cop, but if I was then this would be a classic open and shut case. It doesn’t get any simpler, right?”
“I’m not sure.”
He looked at me like I had a screw loose. “Demon. Knife. Kills angels. Am I missing something here?”
I shook my head. “If he wished us harm then he’s got a strange way of getting his business done. I’m telling you, he was trying to help me. Us.”
“He killed an angel,” Julie pointed out, like I hadn’t grasped that point the first time it came up. “And he’s a demon.” Zack nodded enthusiastically.
“I know all that,” I said, “but it just doesn’t fit. He was digging, hinting at something else. But then Benny did his save-the-day bit and it all went south.”
“Benny,” said Arabella, suspicion creeping into her voice. “It was remarkably convenient timing, wasn’t it?”
“Seriously? We’re going there?” asked Julie. Arabella just shrugged and turned her attention to whatever was passing us by outside the window.
“Fine, so Eliajel didn’t stalk you and kill a ton of our friends,” said Zack. “Let’s run with that for a moment. If he can help, why don’t we find him again?”
“We only just managed it once,” I pointed out. “The Fades is out of the question. The only real defense we’ve got left is that brooch of Julie’s.” I’d grown to hate the thing. It was a big help, and I owed Benny a massive favor, but every time I saw it I’d get reminded of how much shit I’d got us all into. Conscience is a cruel and unrelenting master.
“Still, how about we get word to Benny?” Arabella suggested.
“Yeah, not a bad idea, that one,” I said. “Zack, call someone, get them to slide over and ask nicely. Maybe something’ll come up. Hey, does anyone want a hot dog?”
Sadly, my great hot dog break plan was one more casualty of someone else’s shit getting in the way of mine. With no warning Rick slammed on the brakes and we slid, flew and fell forwards in the cab, ending up in a slightly bruised but otherwise unhurt pile on the floor. Rick was already out of the car, screaming blue murder at the black BMW that had swerved across our path and then skidded to a halt. I jumped out myself, looking nervously at the rooftops. It was a relatively quiet street so we thankfully weren’t attracting much attention. Yet.
Liberty stepped out of the BMW. He smiled grimly at Rick and shoved him aside, making straight for me. “Easy on the driver,” I told him, but he waved away the comment. Something was up.
“I need your help.”
I sighed. “Not the best time for it, you know? I’m trying to keep a low profile here. Which, by the way, you’re not helpi
ng with.”
“I appreciate that. Wouldn’t ask if I had any other options, but I don’t. It’s Cadence. She’s dropped out of contact. I can’t raise her on the phone or…other methods.”
“You told your people to go dark, right? Maybe that’s what she’s done. Good for her. Shows she’s listening. She’ll go far.”
“I told her to get somewhere safe. Somewhere I didn’t know about. But she went home first. I told her to check in again once she was out, to let me know she was okay. Otherwise…I’d worry. But that was forty minutes ago. I’ve got a bad feeling about it.”
Bad feelings again. I listen intently to bad feelings.
“Why the trip home? She had to collect some experiments that were at a crucial stage?” Arabella appeared at my shoulder.
Liberty fixed her with a look. “She went to collect her son.”
“Shit. We’ll help. Right, Malachi?”
“Damn right.” Even if I wasn’t in Cadence’s debt right now, I’d help. “Are we really the best people to take into that kind of situation right now, though?”
Liberty nodded. “I hear what you’re saying. But what do you want me to do? Take Eric?”
“Understood. Lead the way.”
Cadence lived on the sixth floor of an apartment building in Hell’s Kitchen. Nice place, by the look of it. “There’s usually a doorman,” Liberty muttered as we stood half a block away. We were going in quietly on foot. Once we were inside, Rick and Eric would bring the cars closer. Just in case we needed a quick getaway. Which was, let’s face it, likely.
“Night off, maybe,” I said, strolling forward. “Let’s start off by thinking happy thoughts, at least. We’ll adjust our outlook when we find his butchered corpse stuffed in a janitor’s cupboard.”
Inside, there was no sign of a disturbance. No broken glass or furniture. No discreet spatters of blood across the floor. All very normal. “You smell anything?” asked Zack. I shook my head. Nothing except sterile, conditioned air. None of the unmistakable sulphuric tang that was the tell-tale sign of a demonic presence. And the only sound was the rattling and rumbling of heating pipes somewhere beneath our feet or behind the walls.
“Elevator?” asked Arabella hopefully.
“Absolutely not,” I told her, and we began a steady march up the stairs, not too close together, so that no cast could take us out in one fell stroke.
“That’s it,” whispered Liberty. “602.”
“How much do you people get paid?” asked Zack. “Not the time or place, I appreciate. But, you know.”
“Union asset, perk of the job,” said Liberty. “We give our people nice things. Fancy signing up?”
“On balance, it would still be a no.”
“Cut it out, both of you.” I sensed out, past the door. There was a buzz, a crackle of magical energy, but that could be something or nothing. A mage like Cadence living there, maybe taking a bit of work home with her. I stepped forward and put my hand to the door. It swung away and inwards without resistance. Not a good sign.
I motioned to Zack to move in immediately after me. Liberty next. Julie and Arabella to stay outside. There was a flurry of sign language from Arabella indicating in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t entirely happy with this arrangement. It ended with a raised middle finger, which I enthusiastically returned, along with a jabbed forefinger that told her to keep her ass exactly where it was. Julie said nothing, but that was turning out to be worryingly normal. As was her increasing tendency to not look at me. That would have to be dealt with at some point, assuming we got out of this alive. That’s the trouble with being forced to stay in a group of four, twenty-four seven - personal time was hard to come by.
An almost pristine beige carpet lined the hallway, and muffled our footsteps as we made our way along. I kept straight ahead, leaving Zack and Liberty to check the rooms off to the side. They needn’t have bothered. Everything we came to find was in the kitchen, directly ahead at the end of the hall.
“Shit,” shouted Liberty and ran across to her before I could stop him. Cadence was crouched in the corner, eyes flicking about like a terrified animal. She clutched her son tightly - a small kid of maybe four or five. “Cadence, can you hear me? Are you two okay?” She didn’t answer.
“Hey,” said Julie, stepping forward past me and kneeling on the floor. Slowly and gently, speaking soothingly in a low voice, she prised the boy away from his mother and gathered him into her own arms. Once he was there, she furiously and systematically patted him down, before holding his face in her hands and looking into his eyes. “He’s okay,” she said. “Scared, but I don’t think he’s hurt.”
Which was more than could be said for Cadence. She just sat there, hugging herself and swaying back and forth.
Zack stepped back in the room. “The place is clear.” Cadence suddenly looked up at him and her eyes flicked over to the left. “Utility room,” he muttered. “Never liked utility rooms. Hang on.” He disappeared behind the worktops and opened a door that was just out of view. “Hey, Malachi. A word, if you please.”
I stood up and wandered over, in no particular hurry to see what he’d found. Even given what we’d just been through, it was bad. The utility room was a good size and not at all cramped. Cadence kept a chest freezer in there, presumably for work purposes, since a family this small couldn’t need one for food. The rest of the floor was clear apart from some unironed clothes in a heap, overflowing from a plastic laundry basket.
“I’m guessing,” Zack said quietly, “that this is the babysitter.”
She was young, that was the worst thing about it. Sixteen, seventeen. Maybe a neighbor, helping out Cadence when she needed it, which given the apparent absence of a father, may well have been quite often. Thrown across the freezer, dead eyes still wide in terror, and brown hair splayed across the surface, framing her white, blood-drained face. There was a knife in her chest, but it wasn’t a clean stroke. Someone had gone to town, multiple strikes, and splintered bones stuck out from the wounds.
“Why?” I asked. It was the only question that came to mind. “Why?”
“Yeah, well, that’s the worst bit,” Zack said, pointing to the corner. He was right. It was. Someone had been using her blood to paint the walls. A round circle, with a capital ‘M’ in the centre. Then an arrow pointing down to the floor. All the way down to where a cell phone lay.
“You think Cadence saw this?” I said.
Zack shook his head. “I reckon not. Door was closed, scene undisturbed. Hard to think she wouldn’t have tried to help, tried something. Not that it would have done any good. Whatever happened to Cadence, it was something else. Besides, I doubt this is even close to the worst she’s ever seen.”
Julie had taken the boy off into another room. Arabella and Liberty were crouched over Cadence in the kitchen, eyes closed, fingers lightly touching her head. I gave them time, because this couldn’t be rushed. Zack opened the fridge and found some snack food. I looked at him but he just shrugged and carried on eating. After a minute of wrestling with myself, I held out my hand and he passed me a yogurt.
Twenty minutes later Liberty and Arabella reached an unspoken consensus, and leaned back, opening their eyes. “Damn, that girl’s head is a mess,” Arabella said softly.
“Nothing?” I asked.
Liberty looked up and shook his head. “Something’s been in there and scrambled everything up. Memories, rational thought, the works. Instinct made her hold the boy, but she couldn’t have cared for him, or even fed herself.”
“Who do you have who can deal with this?”
“Normally I’d run to Josephine, but…” He didn’t have to complete the sentence. Helping me and the Aware out had cost him dearly. “What did you find?” He asked.
“Look when you’ve got a moment, but brace yourself,” said Zack. “You need to close this place down, get cleaning. Then there’s the family…we could help, I suppose.”
“No, we can’t,” I said. “Sorry Liberty, but t
he best way we can help you - I can help you - is to get the hell away from all of you right now. From now on I’m not your problem. I’m just sorry that it’s come to this. I’m grateful and I owe you. One day I might even be able to pay you back. For now, though, we’re gone.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
I filled the others in on the utility room mess as we jogged down the stairs. “What’s on the phone?” Julie asked.
“Haven’t checked yet.”
“Still,” Zack cut in, “better safe than sorry.” He took the phone out of his pocket, slide the back open and removed the SIM. “Nobody’s going to track us with it. Our phones are safe. This isn’t.”
“Couldn’t you just switch it off?” Arabella asked.
“No, munchkin, you can’t. It can be rigged twenty different ways to get you anyway. This is safest.”
“So we’re not going to use it?” Julie asked. “Really?”
“Sure we’re going to use it,” I told her. “But in our time, and where we want. So that we’re in control.”
She snorted. It wasn’t particularly attractive. “We haven’t been in control for a very long time. Don’t you get that?”
Rick was waiting outside, engine running, sipping a hot coffee. “Where to?” he asked over his shoulder as we piled in.
“Head north,” I told him. Then, as an idea suddenly came to me, “Zack, put the SIM back in the phone. Switch it on. But if anyone calls, don’t answer.”
He looked at me quizzically, but didn’t argue and got to work. Meanwhile, Rick spun the car in a sharp U-turn and floored it.
“Never thought I’d say this,” said Julie suddenly. “But we should seriously think about giving up. People are getting hurt. Because of us.”
She wasn’t wrong, and the idea had been spinning around inside of my head as well. Maybe, if it was just me, I’d have done it. I wouldn’t have gone happily or easily, but a final stand-off, however doomed, would certainly be an option. But if I gave up, handed myself over to whatever madness was at work here, that wouldn’t solve anything for Zack or Arabella. They’d still have a death sentence from the Host hanging over their heads. I couldn’t walk out on them, leave them to that, no matter what the cost. I just shook my head, and Julie let the question lie.
